Family deny ‘memorialising’ Noah Donohoe’s social media account at inquest
The mystery of why Noah Donohoe’s Instagram account was memorialised, blocking his mum Fiona from gaining access the day after he was found dead, remains just that.As the inquest into the 14-year-old Belfast schoolboy’s death continues, three witnesses from the same family denied having anything to do with locking the social media account under the name ‘Noah Pyotr’ without his mum’s consent.Jurors learned of the stress it had caused Fiona Donohoe, as she was unaware who had made the request or what his account might contain.The trio, whose identity has been protected by Mr Justice Rooney, gave evidence on Thursday from behind a curtain with half the public gallery blocked off to ensure the press or the public could not see their faces.Noah Donohoe Mother, teenage son and daughter were visible only to the coroner, jury, legal teams and Fiona.They were known in court as M1 (son), M2 (daughter) and M3 (mother).The court was told how the son’s name and shared family email address containing two inaccuracies were provided to Meta along with the application to have Noah’s account effectively ‘frozen’ in his memory.Details provided to the inquest by Meta stated that the email ended in .con instead of .com and contained a wrong number.They also provided the name of a teenage boy who was in a different school year to Noah but also a pupil of St Malachy’s College, north Belfast.Instagram says memorialised profiles are a place to remember someone’s life after their death.Fiona Donohoe, posted a picture of herself and Noah's last Christmas together But this meant Fiona was locked out and left unable to access any private messages that may have helped her understand what happened to her son.The family was welcomed to the court, with the coroner recognising their nervousness and thanking them for giving evidence.During questioning, the boy was asked if he knew Noah and said: “Not at all.”Read moreNo evidence Noah Donohoe was under influence of drugs at time of death, inquest hearsRead moreFar-right troll called out over sick claims about deceased Belfast teen Noah DonohoeRead moreNoah Donohoe inquest: Experts say ‘death could have occurred on the day of disappearance’Asked three times if he memorialised the account, he said “no” each time.The teen also told the court he had “no idea” his name had been used in the application to memorialise Noah’s account until his family was contacted by the coroner’s court in February and that if he knew who had he “would say”.His sister, also in her late teens, gave evidence that she too did not know Noah and only became aware of him following publication of his disappearance.She told the court she never made any contact with Meta, but that she had requested to follow Noah after his disappearance to keep up with the case.A man and a dog inspect a culvert in Seaview Park during the search for missing Noah Donohoe The teens’ mum also gave evidence, briefly breaking down.She too denied knowing anything about the request to memorialise the account. She also told the court she had forgotten the password to the old shared email but offered to give the court access to the account if there was some way of getting into the account.The inquest did not sit on Monday or Tuesday as a result of the St Patrick’s Day bank holiday, but on Wednesday the jury heard evidence from toxicology experts.It was also revealed that proceedings are now expected to continue past Easter.There were no traces of drugs found in samples taken from Noah’s body, the court heard.But it was also suggested that the possibility of drugs being in the teenager’s body “cannot be completely excluded” as “unstable” drugs can disintegrate pre-examination.Two experts also told how Noah was not under the influence of alcohol when he died.They were senior scientific officer Amy Quinn from Forensic Science Northern Ireland and Dr Simon Elliott, an England-based toxicology consultant, who gave evidence online.Both explained how testing is not exhaustive as there are thousands of different types of drugs, with new drugs appearing all the time. Noah’s body was recovered on June 27, 2020 six days after he disappeared. Tests on samples taken from his remains took place on July 2, 2020.His mum and friends have both said Noah was not a drug user, while a court document described him as “drug naive”.Regular toxicology tests include a range of substances like alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, opiates, opioids, morphine, fentanyl, mephedrone and antidepressants, hypnotics, zopiclone, amphetamines, methamphetamines, ecstasy, analgesics, progablin, Lorazepam, benzodiazepines, ketamine, cathanoids, tricyclics, propranolol, antipsychotics and antihistamines. Tests did not include LSD or magic mushrooms.They were the same tests as done on a potential murder victim, the jury was told.Noah and Fiona Donohoe in happier times Urine found in Noah’s body was very limited, so forensics could only test for alcohol in his urine, while blood tests were the main samples used in toxicology.A change in Noah’s behaviour in the 20 minutes before his death was also mentioned in court, while there was some discussion around testing for the synthetic cannabinoid known as ‘spice’.The coroner and jury were told there are hundreds of versions of the drug and how testing could not cover all of them.Both experts agreed that many drugs regarded as unstable can become undetectable by the time post-mortem tests are done and that this meant the potential presence of unstable drugs “cannot be completely excluded”.The inquest continues.
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